Short Change Heroes - The Ryoushi
by Pirate Soul
Summary: Another batch of Reanimated have been sent to the battlefield- These belonging to the secretive Special ops group, the Ryoushi, the Hunters. Known only by their codenames, this group has come specifically to prevent Naruto from turning the tides too far in the Allied Shinobi's favor. Who were they, and how did they managed to be so elusive from mainstream knowledge?


**Name: **Short Change Heroes - The Ryoushi

**Chapter Name: **Introduction

**Pairings/Characters:** N/A, pairings don't make a story.

**Timeline Location: **This story takes place during the Reanimated assault, pretty much exactly around the time that Naruto was sending out his clones, before the Yota Story arc. This is, and will be, the only fanfiction I present based on Original Characters. It will be short, as with all arcs introducing these sort of ReAnimated characters.

**Summary: **Another batch of Reanimated have been sent to the battlefield- These belonging to the secretive Special ops group, the Ryoushi, the Hunters. Known only by their codenames, this group has come specifically to prevent Naruto from turning the tides too far in the Allied Shinobi's favor. Who were they, and how did they managed to be so elusive from mainstream knowledge? Perhaps most importantly, why?

**Notes: **Naruto themes, characters and story does not belong to me, it all belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. And Shounen Jump. I'm simply showing appreciation for his work by creating this fandom.

* * *

**"**_**TIME TO** clean up that mess Naruto is making_." Kabuto grumbled, placing a white stone on the board before him. Zetsu's clones were a rather important part of the planned attrition based warfare Tobi had going. He knew exactly which would be perfect for the job. "_Time to see the Ryoushi in action_."

o0o

**A LONE** wooden casket slowly appeared in the empty forest clearing. It was an odd locational choose, as the closest allied shinobi were about five five kilometers off. It opened, revealing its Reanimated contents, the lot of whom stepped out, looking around. A samurai stepped out, clad in a tactically simple armor, his helmeted head turning slowly to registered his surroundings. This... This was not where he had been before. This looked nothing like Kumo."... Kayaku? Gekai?" The reanimated soldier called out in a electronic voice, spinning around with each step as he looked for signs of the people he remembered being around last. "Taihou? Soren?"Nothing, of course. What had happened after that last battle? He remembered ambushing the Kumo team of jutsu collectors. He remembered... One of them had done, no, been something unexpected. The fight had been ridiculously difficult and painful. But how had it ended? He placed a finger against his cloth masked chin, in troubled thoughts. Had only he survived the fight? Or were the other Ryoshi still alive somewhere else? So many questions, too few immediate answers. Not how he liked to operate.

Grasping at straws for answers, he reached into his pouch, pulling out a scroll. The scroll, to be specific, contained updates to his mission objectives. He broke the seal with his chakra, looking over it. It only said his title, Ryoushi Musha, and the last orders he had been given, about stealing back some Jutsu from the Kumonin... and that it was currently a void mission.

Void? If it had been voided, why weren't there new orders to replace it? Missions weren't simply voided without replacement ones. What the hell. Grumbling, Musha rolled the scroll back up, returning it to a sealed nature and to its home in his pouch. That had been a complete waste, and only added to the peculiar pile of things collecting in his mind. If only he knew where the other Ryoushi were. He needed those three to make an brief synopsis of events, given he hadn't ever been much of a thinker. He was more of a doer. This was a waste of ti- What was that orange light?

Musha's train of thought diverted to the katana hanging off his hip. An orange glow was lining the opening of the sheath, accompanied now by a reddish smoke. The Samurai drew the blade with a fancy swish, staring hard at the orange, chakra charged glow it now sported. A tailed beast was close. A powerful one, his blade was giving a strong reaction. Was it... "Kyuubi?" He breathed, perking up at the thought. Well. No doubt his teammates were there, still fighting the good fight. And without him, too. That was just bad manners on their part.

Now, which way was the beast? Musha balanced the glowing blade on the palm of his hand, letting it swivel gently until it pointed off to a slight right. It shifted ever so slightly back towards the center, and started towards the left, meaning the demon host was on the move. That-a-way. Unknown to him, it led directly to the closest allied Shinobi - Hatake's group, whom was currently finishing their fight against the legendary Kiri swordsmen and women.

'_I'll be there soon_.' The Ryoushi mentally promised, whipping the sword back into its sheath for a safe chase, before running up the closest tree, and taking to the branches, in a very non-samurai manner of travel - in fact he moved like a shinobi, creating a paradox out of himself.

Now the questions to the effect of 'what the hell is going on' didn't matter. He had a few letters worth of plans, goals, and most importantly, a hunt.

o0o

**"**_**AH, RYOUSHI** Musha. You live up to your moniker well._" Kabuto smirked, turning his attention to the others he had reanimated in the Ryoushi set, rather excited. He had never hoped to employ them for their intended use, there had always been the notion they would only gather dust. Hopefully the infamous banes of Kumo would exceed expectations. "_Now, to Ryoushi Kayaku and Taihou._"

Two more pieces went down, on the coastline. He didn't want or need the backup units interfering any further, either. The Ryoushi Pair would start there, and move their way inward, towards the stand at Suna. Now to see if the Gunpowder and the Cannon sported an affinity for their work equal to Musha, to the Soldier's.

He watched, frowning as the two were hesitating in their march. Taihou and Kayaku hadn't been quite as willing to jump on demand, forcing Kabuto to take some of their control away. Hopefully if he kept working them, they'd be forced to get started on their own under self preservation... Though he supposed, as long as they kept the coast battalion and back-ups occupied, it would be sufficient.

The longer they could stay mentally themselves, the better off it would be for him. These Reanimated soldiers were simply better with their Jutsu when they had control of themselves. Better, more resourceful fighters, if they were allowed to be 'themselves' as it were. They knew their jutsu's better than he ever would, knew how to exploit them for success, so on so forth. If he could get them going on their own, it would be preferred.

o0o

**SHIKAMARU LOOKED** over the battlefield. Everyone was still on edge, the Zetsu fiasco's mark would be a lasting one. They were in dire need of a rest, but what could be done? To rest would be to trust one another, and trust was pretty far down on the list of things to do for everyone. What was worse, was he couldn't think of a solution that didn't involve that basic factor.

Screams from down on the beach caught his attention, and most everyone else's. Everyone's breath caught simultaneously, everyone listening in fear as to what was next. Snarls accompanied the screams, whatever was causing that? He looked to Ino and Choji, both of whom were of course looking to him for guidance along with everyone else.

"We've got to help them." He announced irritably, running to the cliff's edge, staring down the various levels that made up the face. Down closest to the water, were the endangered Shinobi. They were wrestling... what were they wrestling, exactly? They looked like... Big black globs.

Out on the rocky islands in the water, stood two figures, one of which was clearly creating whatever jutsu was affecting their comrades. The other... He couldn't tell what that one was doing. Didn't look like the person was doing much of anything besides standing there. But they were too far out to really see.

"What's going on down there?" Ino asked, voicing the confusion they all felt.

"Can't tell, we're gonna have to find out. Everyone, stay up here till I can give word." Shikamaru started to leap down the faces, stopping only once he had a clear view of the attack - so that he wouldn't become a victim himself.

The shinobi down below were fighting... black dogs, of some sort. Black dogs that were coming from... Shikamaru gasped as the source of the dogs were their own shadows. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see what was happening there - it was a warped version of his family's own Jutsu. One by one the affect men and women went down, most by ripped out throats. As each one went down, their corpses shadows moved back to a black orb in the center of the conflict.

"It's... We need to contact HQ. We don't have enough information." Shikamaru flipped back, realizing there were thin tendrils of shadows trying to connect to him. There wasn't any way the jutsu caster could have known he was there, these things were acting independently. "This is a member of my clan, and I need to know who and what they are."

"Dad, did you hear that?" Ino's voice requested in his head.

"I'm patching in Shikaku now."

It was just one thing after another with this war of attrition. Shikamaru gritted his teeth, moving again to escape the reach of those shadow tendrils. There wouldn't be anymore going into this blindly, or surprises, if he could help it. Besides, a member of his own family? This was getting a bit personal now.

o0o

**KABUTO LEANED** back in his sitting, sighing a bit as he watched the stage he had set. Now to see how the act progressed.

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A/N:

This will be the ONLY original character based piece of Naruto Fanfiction I will EVER do. Please don't hold it against me. It will also be short, as these little arcs are only supposed to be one to two episodes long in real time, why not mimic that with fanfiction?

This is not hot off the press, but it may still contain errors - I can't seem to catch them, and I'm having a time finding a beta.

Please enjoy. Drawings of the characters will be available for view in due time - don't worry, they'll be halfway decent.

A/N End


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